Boingo Wireless, a nationwide WiFi provider, has just announced that it has filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC for a proposed initial public offering. While the company’s statement says that number of shares to be offered and the offering price range are still to be determined, the filing indicates that the IPO is prices at $75 million for now. It’s important to note that this is the amount, Boingo is trying to raise but is not the set amount for the IPO.
Boingo “believes” that it is is the world’s largest commercial Wi-Fi network, with 211,000 Wi-Fi locations in over 100 countries. The company installs, manages and operates wireless networks in locations like airports and restaurant chains, which Boing says had more than 800 million visitors in 2009.
According to the filing, Boingo had 1.3 million consumers who have purchased its mobile Internet services in the past year. The company’s primary source of revenue is from consumers who purchase month-to-month subscription plans or hotspot specific, single-use access to its network. Boingo also receives money from business partners that pay to allow their consumers to access the network. Other revenue channels include telecom operators and advertisers.
And revenue seems to be growing for the WiFi provider. Boingo increased revenue from $56.7 million in 2008 to $65.7 million in 2009. The company also made $59.0 million in 2010 revenue as of September of 2010. Unfortunately, net income for the wireless provider for the nine months ending in September 2010 only came in at $5.7 million. Boingo actually took a loss for the same period in 2009.
In the future, the company plans to expand its network to more airports as well as to shopping malls and sports/concert arenas. And Boingo says it will enter new roaming agreements with other network and hotspot operators. Additionally, Boingo will be looking to expand its presence internationally.